Festival Puts Winnebago Outdoor Center Stage

Winnebago Industries Inc. gained a high profile stage for its recently introduced Winnebago Outdoor brand, serving as sponsor for last weekend’s Tree Town Music Festival featuring several of country music’s frontliners.

Winnebago Outdoor represents the Forest City, Iowa-based builder’s latest marketing initiative to strengthen its presence in the outdoor lifestyle market through sale of a variety of outdoor gear, clothing and other items. The Tree Town Music Festival was a “litmus test” to determine the viability of future sponsorships, the company told RVBUSINESS.com.

“The festival was amazing. I think we had 15,000 people there on Saturday and 15,000 people there on Sunday,” Chad Reece, Winnebago’s director of marketing, said about the Tree Town Music Festival, held May 23-25 at Heritage Park of North Iowa in Forest City, featuring Brad Paisley and Toby Keith.

He said Winnebago Outdoor has committed to sponsoring the 2015 Tree Town Music Festival, which already has Blake Shelton signed on to provide entertainment.

“The festival audience is a huge demographic that runs the gamut, from families with young children, to adults in their 20s and 30s to those folks in their retirement years,” Reece said. “From an RV standpoint, that (demographic) segment was there, but from a brand licensing standpoint it crosses over into even more segments.”

Reece added that Winnebago Outdoor makes sense because the Winnebago brand is all about “travel, adventure and freedom.” The clothing, which features a retro look, and other offerings, including adventure packages, are an extension of the Winnebago brand, he said.

Look for announcements from Winnebago Outdoor throughout the summer, Reece added, as the company looks to expand its outreach.